SOLA Network

SOLA Network had the privilege of speaking to Pastor Hanley Liu, English Lead Pastor of First Chinese Baptist Church of Walnut, a Chinese heritage church. He is also a SOLA Council member. 

Hanley talked to Aaron Lee, social media manager at SOLA Network and a member at his church. Listen to this fascinating interview where they discuss the hope and calling of the Chinese heritage church, Hanley’s journey of faith and becoming a pastor, how to minister to a Chinese heritage church, and encouragements to young pastors.

Hanley Liu serves as the English Lead Pastor of First Chinese Baptist Church of Walnut. He is happily married to his bride Meryl and the two have one daughter. Aside from family and ministry, Hanley’s greatest passions are running, reading, coffee, spicy foods, candy, Chargers football, Lakers basketball, and Dodgers baseball. He is a graduate of Biola University (B.A., 2003), Talbot School of Theology (M.Div, 2006), and the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Doctor of Ministry, 2017).

Video and full transcript:

https://sola.network/article/pastoring-the-chinese-heritage-church-interview/

Links:

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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqsoKbSYBbZZoovA24PhqAg

Podcast: http://anchor.fm/solanetwork

Website: https://sola.network

Pastor Hanley Liu moderated a discussion with Pastor Cory Ishida and Pastor Ben Shin for the third session of the AALC Conference. The panel gleaned the wisdom of Cory Ishida and Ben Shin on the topics of leadership longevity, leadership health, and leadership accountability for Asian American contexts.

Pastor Cory Ishida was born in Alhambra, CA in 1947 to Nisei (second generation Japanese American) parents. He grew up in Pasadena, CA and graduated from UCLA with a degree in zoology. Pastor Cory has been married to his wife, Reine, since 1969. They have three married daughters and ten grandchildren. Pastor Cory has served as the senior pastor of Evergreen Baptist Church of San Gabriel Valley (Evergreen SGV) for over 40 years before retiring in 2018.

Benjamin C. Shin has served in the ministry as a pastor, parachurch leader, and professor for more than 30 years. He is a graduate of UCLA, Talbot School of Theology, and Dallas Theological Seminary. He enjoys reading, music, sports (especially the UCLA Bruins), and spending time with people. He is married to his bride, Jen and has 2 wonderful sons named Adam and Zachary. He currently serves as the Teaching Pastor at New Life Vision Church in Glendale, CA. He is also the co-author along with Dr. Sheryl Silzer of Tapestry of Grace: Untangling the Cultural Complexities of Asian American Life & Ministry on Wipf & Stock.

Hanley Liu serves as the English Lead Pastor of First Chinese Baptist Church of Walnut. He is happily married to his bride Meryl and the two have one daughter. Aside from family and ministry, Hanley’s greatest passions are running, reading, coffee, spicy foods, candy, Chargers football, Lakers basketball, and Dodgers baseball. He is a graduate of Biola University (B.A., 2003), Talbot School of Theology (M.Div, 2006), and the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Doctor of Ministry, 2017).

Watch the video on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/4t-5TMA73oE

Links:

Weekly Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/sola/tgif

Monthly Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/sola/newsletter

Facebook: https://facebook.com/thesolanetwork

Instagram: https://instagram.com/thesolanetwork

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thesolanetwork

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqsoKbSYBbZZoovA24PhqAg

Podcast: http://anchor.fm/solanetwork

Website: https://sola.network

SOLA Network had the privilege of speaking to Julius Kim, the president of The Gospel Coalition. Julius talked to Steve Chang, council chairman of SOLA Network. They discussed what it has been like for Julius to lead the influential evangelical TGC. They also discussed how Julius’ Asian American heritage has helped him in this role.

Video and full transcript:

https://sola.network/article/leading-tgc-president-julius-kim-interview/

Links:

Weekly Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/sola/tgif

Monthly Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/sola/newsletter

Facebook: https://facebook.com/thesolanetwork

Instagram: https://instagram.com/thesolanetwork

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thesolanetwork

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqsoKbSYBbZZoovA24PhqAg

Podcast: http://anchor.fm/solanetwork

Website: https://sola.network

This talk unpacks and connects Christ’s prophetic office to the contemporary preacher as he is called to discern God’s truth, goodness, and beauty and testify to it in his words and in his deeds.  

Dr. Julius Kim (M.Div, Westminster Seminary California; Ph.D, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is president of The Gospel Coalition. Julius also serves as associate pastor of New Life Presbyterian Church and visiting professor of practical theology at Westminster Seminary California, where he previously served as dean of students. He is the author of Preaching the Whole Counsel of God and numerous articles. Julius and his wife, Ji Hee, have two daughters and live in Escondido, California.

Watch on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/H1oq2ZjW5HQ

The Center for House Church Theology (CHCT) fosters and furthers the international publishing of pastors, church leaders, and teachers committed to the historic gospel of grace in China’s urban house churches. In promoting the theological leadership of China’s urban house churches, they believe dialogue between Christians in China and those from other cultural contexts will lead to mutual edification and sanctification.

We are proud to feature the CHCT and the work that they do at SOLA Network. To this end, we have interviewed Clara Kim, who manages operations and publishing projects for the center. After graduating from NYU, she spent five years at Nature Publishing Group in academic customer service and operations, and twelve years at Redeemer City to City, where she worked with church planters and publishers in many countries, including China. She also served for a time as a missionary in Peru.

Clara talked to Aaron Lee, SOLA Network’s social media manager. We hope you are encouraged by CHCT and are inspired by the work that they do. 

Read the transcript of this conversation:

https://sola.network/article/learning-about-house-church-theology-interview/

Links:

Weekly Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/sola/tgif

Monthly Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/sola/newsletter

Facebook: https://facebook.com/thesolanetwork

Instagram: https://instagram.com/thesolanetwork

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thesolanetwork

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqsoKbSYBbZZoovA24PhqAg

Podcast: http://anchor.fm/solanetwork

Website: https://sola.network

Ruth Chou Simons speaks with Aaron Lee on a variety of topics regarding faith and culture. She talks about her testimony as it comes to being an Asian American Christian, switching majors from biochem to fine arts, our callings and careers, serving Christ and stewarding our gifts, and shares encouragement for Asian American women authors.

Ruth Chou Simons is a bestselling and award-winning author of several books — including GraceLaced, Beholding and Becoming, and Foundations. She is an artist, entrepreneur, and speaker, using each of these platforms to spiritually sow the Word of God into people’s hearts. Through her online shoppe at GraceLaced.com and her social media community, Simons shares her journey of God’s grace intersecting daily life with word and art. Ruth and her husband, Troy, are grateful parents to six boys–their greatest adventure. Ruth’s most recent book, When Strivings Cease is now available.

Watch the video and read the transcript of this conversation:

https://sola.network/article/telling-her-own-story-ruth-chou-simons-interview/

Shownotes:

https://ruthchousimons.com/

https://ruthchousimons.com/whenstrivingscease/

https://sola.network/article/but-why-is-grace-so-amazing-reflections/

https://ruthchousimons.com/emmanuel/

Links:

Weekly Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/sola/tgif

Monthly Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/sola/newsletter

Facebook: https://facebook.com/thesolanetwork

Instagram: https://instagram.com/thesolanetwork

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thesolanetwork

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqsoKbSYBbZZoovA24PhqAg

Podcast: http://anchor.fm/solanetwork

Website: https://sola.network

The Asian American (AA) church is good and beautiful, and the calling to minister in the context of an AA church is a wonderful and joyous thing! In addition, the AA church can do community, discipleship, leadership development, and mission in ways that are culturally contextualized, needed, and strategic. Therefore, the AA church ought to be embraced and celebrated!

Owen serves as the Senior Pastor of Christ Central Presbyterian Church in Centreville, VA. He received his BA in Rhetoric at U.C. Berkeley and his M.Div at Westminster Seminary, CA. Before his call to serve as the Senior Pastor of Christ Central in 2012, he served as the English Ministry Pastor of New Life Mission Church in Fullerton, CA from 2000 to 2002, and then as the church-planting pastor of New Life Mission Church in Burbank, CA from 2002 to 2011. He is married to Margaret, and they have 3 children together- Abby, Caleb, and Lizzy.

Watch on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/p34qwim8iPw

“What does it mean that God is enough when it seems like I don’t have enough?” Alicia J. Akins strugged with this question during a time of great scarcity. That’s when she was invited to a friend’s dinner and she was confronted with the juxtaposition of her financial lack and the beautiful feast and friendships before her. It began her journey of studying the feasts of the Bible, and she recently published the book, Invitations to Abundance. 

We are pleased to present an interview between Alicia and SOLA Network. She is interviewed by Aaron Lee, our social media manager. He talks to her about her time living in China, the inspiration behind her book, and the one chapter that almost didn’t make it.

Read the transcript of this conversation:

https://sola.network/article/invitations-to-abundance-interview/

Watch the video on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/7zCi0TC05AY

Links:

Weekly Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/sola/tgif

Monthly Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/sola/newsletter

Facebook: https://facebook.com/thesolanetwork

Instagram: https://instagram.com/thesolanetwork

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thesolanetwork

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqsoKbSYBbZZoovA24PhqAg

Podcast: http://anchor.fm/solanetwork

Website: https://sola.network

The future of the immigrant church is one that all Christians should care about. Even as Asian Americans begin planting their own churches, many first-generation immigrants, including our parents, continue to attend immigrant churches. In addition, many Asian American churches continue to operate on the same campus or are even part of a larger first-generation church. 

So John J. Oh’s essay on the “Silent Divergence” of the Korean immigrant church struck a chord with many of our readers. He argued that the Korean immigrant church was no longer the center of immigrant life but was now part of the margins. Rather than despairing, he called on the Korean church to rediscover her identity as a sojourner and exile to “live out the unchanging gospel of Jesus Christ.” 

To gain more of his expertise and to further discuss the topic, SOLA Editorial Board member Daniel K. Eng interviewed John J. Oh. John Oh talks about what the data shows and his thoughts on the future of the immigrant church.  

Read the transcript of this conversation:

https://sola.network/article/the-present-and-future-of-the-immigrant-church-interview

Shownotes:

From “Silent Exodus” to “Silent Divergence”: How Immigration is Changing the Unchanging Immigrant Church

https://sola.network/article/from-silent-exodus-to-silent-divergence/

Links:

Weekly Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/sola/tgif

Monthly Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/sola/newsletter

Facebook: https://facebook.com/thesolanetwork

Instagram: https://instagram.com/thesolanetwork

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thesolanetwork

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqsoKbSYBbZZoovA24PhqAg

Podcast: http://anchor.fm/solanetwork

Website: https://sola.network

If you’ve been visiting SOLA’s website for a while, you’ve probably read an article by Daniel K. Eng. Perhaps it was his essay on how to know if the person you are marrying is “The One” or his suggestion to follow “An Untraditional Bible Reading Plan.” Most recently, he’s written on ethnic-specific churches, both showing Biblical support for these ministries and addressing their critics.  

To get to know the story behind the articles, SOLA Digital’s Aaron Lee interviewed the author, Daniel K. Eng. Daniel is an editorial board member for SOLA Network, and he is also assistant professor of New Testament at Western Seminary. He has a D.Min. in Asian American Ministry from Talbot School of Theology and a Ph.D. in biblical studies from the University of Cambridge. 

The two discussed Daniel’s motivation behind his articles and how they went from ideas to published works. We hope this conversation will be edifying to you and encourage you to tell your own stories.

Watch the video on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/WNLYkQgfUUw

Read the transcript of this conversation:

https://sola.network/article/from-asian-american-ness-to-the-one-to-bible-reading-plans/

Shownotes:

The Father Chooses a father:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xDBxuo0voQ

Biblical Support for Ethnic-Specific Ministries:

https://sola.network/article/biblical-support-for-ethnic-specific-ministries/

The Ethnic Specific Church and ‘MLK's Most Segregated Hour’ Line:

https://sola.network/article/ethnic-specific-church-mlk/

How Do I Know if Someone is ‘The One:'

https://sola.network/article/how-do-i-know-if-someone-is-the-one/

An Untraditional Bible Reading Plan:

https://sola.network/article/an-untraditional-bible-reading-plan/

The New Testament In Color: An Interview With Daniel Eng:

https://sola.network/article/new-testament-in-color/

Links:

Weekly Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/sola/tgif

Monthly Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/sola/newsletter

Facebook: https://facebook.com/thesolanetwork

Instagram: https://instagram.com/thesolanetwork

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thesolanetwork

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqsoKbSYBbZZoovA24PhqAg

Podcast: http://anchor.fm/solanetwork

Website: https://sola.network